Chocolate Éclairs

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I am now a postgraduate student at university and so I currently don't have a lot of spare time! But I have still been baking whenever I get a chance and need to start adding the recipes to my blog so I don't forget them! A couple of months ago I made some chocolate eclairs that turned out really well. I used a recipe by Mary Berry. Not the best end result pictures due to my camera running out of batteries, but I can promise they were amazing!

Recipe

49g (1¾ oz) butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing

75g (2½ oz) plain flour

2 large eggs, beaten

300ml (10fl oz) double or whipping cream

For the icing

100g (3½ oz) plain dark chocolate, broken/chopped

100ml (3½ fl oz) double cream

Method

Preheat the oven to 220C (fan 200C/425F/Gas 7). Grease a large baking tray. Put the butter in a  pan with 150ml water and heat until the butter melts. 

Bring to the boil, tip in the flour, then remove from the heat. Stir vigorously.

When a smooth paste develops, return the pan to the heat, stirring. The mixture will dry out a little and form a soft ball that comes away from the sides of the pan.

Remove the pan from the heat again, leave the mixture to cool slightly, then gradually add the eggs, beating really well between each addition until the mixture is smooth and glossy.

Spoon the mixture into a large piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain nozzle. Pipe the mixture onto the baking sheet into 7.5cm (3in) lengths, leaving room between each éclair for them to spread a bit.

Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 190C (fan 170C/375F/Gas 5) and bake for a further 20 minutes. Split each éclair in half lengthways and transfer to a wire rack to cook completely.

Make the icing: Heat the cream in a pan until it just starts to boil. Pour this over the chocolate and let it sit without stirring for 5 minutes (to melt chocolate). Then stir and wait for it to combine with the cream. Let it sit until it is cool and thick enough to coat the éclairs without dripping off them.

Once the éclairs have cooled, whip the cream and spoon or pipe it into the bottom half of the éclairs. Dip the top half of each éclair in the icing, then place on top of the whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Liddie xxx